Buttons in the Ground is a loss of innocence story about Lucy Calvin, a young girl with a wild imagination in a very real and depressing world that surrounds her. When her older sister abandons Lucy and her mother, Lucy sets to work planting a button excitedly waiting for it to grow while her mother, Abigail, denies that this can happen. As a sprout eventually appears, Lucy's hopes raise while Abigail watches distantly.